Engergized

Engergized

Ray Martin, Times Staff

A hydro crew from Cambridge and North Dumfries Hydro went to help the people of Long Island, N.Y., in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Volunteers are (left to right): Pat Andrade, Mark Duquette, Jeff Forthuber, Frank Pagnan, Jeff Eckensweiler, and Steve Mikel.

Two weeks after six energetic linemen from Cambridge and North Dumfries Hydro pitched in to help the New York victims of Hurricane Sandy, they returned last week to a hero’s welcome.

“It was an excellent adventure,” said lineman Pat Andrade. “It was long hours and a lot of hard work, but also very satisfying.”

In fact, it took the Cambridge crew, along with colleagues from Milton, almost two days to reach the devastation in Long Island, N.Y.

“I’ve never seen anything like it. There was a lot of flooding and heavy damage,” Andrade said.

Fellow lineman Steve Mikel said the big problem was that even after repairing hydro poles and stringing new lines, there was still no power.

“Then we got hit by a snowstorm which dumped eight-to-10 inches of snow in eight hours. More trees came down and we had to go back and fix the lines we just installed,” he said.

“We’re 30 years ahead of them in many ways,” Andrade said. “One thing they don’t have is a tree-trimming program like ours, which would have prevented some of the problems.”

Cambridge Hydro president Ian Miles explained that the Long Island Power Authority is different because it has a “more reactive approach” to dealing with problems. He said Cambridge is more proactive and takes preventative action when possible.

Mikel said the people of Long Beach were happy to see the Canadians coming to help.

“Everyone was very nice,” he said. “We’d come down the street and they’d be clapping their hands and cheering. Some of people we saw were without power for 15 days and they were crying when we came down the street.”

The Cambridge hydro workers had no idea where they would be sleeping after arriving in Long Island.

“First we stayed in a homeless shelter. Then they put us up in these three big tents filled with cots.”

Andrade said the recovery effort faced a number of significant problems.

“We had to go get parts one day and a trip that should have taken 15 minutes took three hours because of all the damage,” he said.

There were also problems with co-ordination, communications and the snow.

“We did get hit by a Nor’easter, which dumped considerable snow, but that was nothing for us because we’re used to it,” he said.

Barb Shortreed, Cambridge and North Dumfries Hydro’s public relations director, said the Cambridge office received calls from people living in Long Island after seeing hydro trucks on their streets.

“They were taking the phone number from the side of the trucks. They thanked us for coming and would ask when they’d get their power back,” he said. “We’d then have to get them to call the Long Island Power Authority for that information.”

Andrade said the Cambridge and North Dumfries crew spent 12 days working in the communities of Long Island, Point Lookout, Hempstead and West Hampstead and had asked to stay another two days.

“By that time they had things under control,” he said. “ It was time to come home.”

“We’ve had a call from Long Island thanking us for our assistance, “ Shortreed said. “We’re proud of the work they did and glad to have them back safe and sound.”

Both Andrade and Mikel said they are proud to have been part of the relief effort in New York and would go again.